S. 405: Sunshine in the Courtroom Act of 2013

Introduced:
Feb 28, 2013 (113th Congress, 2013–2015)
Sponsor:
Sen. Charles “Chuck” Grassley [R-IA]
Status:
Referred to Committee

The bill’s title was written by the bill’s sponsor. S. stands for Senate bill.

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Status

This bill was assigned to a congressional committee on February 28, 2013, which will consider it before possibly sending it on to the House or Senate as a whole.

Progress
Introduced Feb 28, 2013
Referred to Committee Feb 28, 2013
Reported by Committee ...
Passed Senate ...
Passed House ...
Signed by the President ...
Prognosis

73% chance of getting past committee.
14% chance of being enacted.

Only 12% of Senate bills made it past committee and only 2% were enacted in 2011–2013. [show factors | methodology]

Cosponsors
6 cosponsors (5D, 1R) (show)
Committees

Senate Judiciary

The committee chair determines whether a bill will move past the committee stage.

Full Title

A bill to provide for media coverage of Federal court proceedings.

Summary

No summaries available.

Text

Read Bill Text »

Last updated Feb 28, 2013.
8 pages

Primary Source

View on THOMAS (The Library of Congress)

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Citation

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GovTrack’s Bill Summary

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Library of Congress Summary

The summary below was written by the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress.

2/28/2013--Introduced.
Sunshine in the Courtroom Act of 2013 - Authorizes the presiding judge of a U.S. appellate court or U.S. district court to permit the photographing, electronic recording, broadcasting, or televising to the public of court proceedings over which that judge presides, except when such action would constitute a violation of the due process rights of any party.
Directs:
(1) a district court, upon the request of any witness in a trial proceeding other than a party, to order the face and voice of the witness to be disguised or otherwise obscured to render the witness unrecognizable to the broadcast audience of the trial proceeding; and
(2) the presiding judge in a trial proceeding to inform each witness who is not a party of the right to make such request.
Allows a presiding judge to obscure the face and voice of an individual if good cause is shown that photographing, electronic recording, broadcasting, or televising such features would threaten the individual's safety, the court's security, the integrity of future or ongoing law enforcement operations, or the interest of justice.
Prohibits a presiding judge from permitting the photographing, electronic recording, broadcasting, or televising of any juror in a trial proceeding, or of the jury selection process.
Terminates a district court's authority under this Act three years after enactment of this Act. Requires the Judicial Conference of the United States to promulgate mandatory guidelines which a presiding judge must follow for obscuring certain vulnerable witnesses.
Prohibits any audio pickup or broadcast of conferences which occur in a court proceeding between attorneys and their clients, co-counsel of a client, adverse counsel, or counsel and the presiding judge, if the conferences are not part of the official record of the proceedings.

House Republican Conference Summary

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No summary available.

House Democratic Caucus Summary

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The bill contains the following citations to other parts of U.S. law:

United States Code

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